One peculiar corner of the web

After an extensive delay I finally got a chance to drag out my recently acquired Relic Knights figures and try out the game. I had my Shattered Sword starter set and a Cerci Speed Circuit force that consisted of Suicide Queen, a Pacer and two small units of Hell’s Belles.

It wasn’t a full game and to keep things simple I didn’t add the objectives but we did get to try a few turns, try out a few combats and get a general feel for the game.
The first problem that we ran into was that neither of us could tell the difference between the “yellow” and the “orange” on the Esper Deck cards. We resorted to identifying the symbols instead of the colours. I don’t know if it us or the cards but the two colours are very similar. So similar that I actually missed an action in one turn when I thought my “orange” Esper was actually “yellow”.

There is a lot to learn and remember when playing the game. Each unit has multiple actions available and the Knights have even more. The learning curve is a bit steep and its definitely not a game where you can open a box and expect to understand the synergies and actions of your force without some time spent playing.

The activation system and the Esper deck combine to make a system where you need to really think about what are playing and how you are going to fuel any actions. Your opponent can also screw this up by attacking a unit or model unexpectedly and make you spend Esper in defence that you wanted to spend in offence your next activation.

The unit activation and order system is a bit odd but I actually don’t mind it. How damage gets applied to a unit of models actually means that only being able to attack with one model in a unit isn’t the hinderance I thought it would be.

It is a fun game but it is going to need some more reading and some more playing before I feel confident making a decision about it.